Better BTU is a small group of industry experts who monitor and evaluate trends in an effort to forward the development of the biomass industry. Made up primarily of engineers, project developers and businessmen, we use our connections with others in the business (consulting firms, lawyers, financiers, etc.) to bring objective and informative blog posts.

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Nuts and Bolts – Why We Do What We Do

We came across this
question in one of our groups on LinkedIn and found it especially prudent. We
wanted to share his question and our thoughts:

Q: What is the main
reason for Biomass to Energy efforts? Biomass processing technologies are
different and some of them are quite complicated and not even commercially
viable without government support. So what is the main driver for investing in
that effort? Is it the idea of getting rid of different wastes (manure, MSW,
etc.), to get cheaper energy, to be prepared for a future fossil fuel deficit
or...

So many of us in the
field tend to get bogged down in the specifics that it's good to be reminded of
why we push for biomass energy in the first place.

This gentleman is
absolutely correct that at the moment there are many different technologies
(some of which are, indeed, quite complicated) and that many of them aren't
economically viable without government support...yet. The reason for that is
because we're still in the development stage of the industry. The original
computer and cell phone were also incredibly expensive and today almost
everyone owns both. So many people fundamentally believe in this industry that
they are working to get to the point of economic viability...and that involves
a lot of trial and error

The question of why we
do it is a good one. At the end of the day, the answer can be simplified in two
points:

1. To greatly reduce the
amount of trash being sent tot he landfill as well as take advantage of energy
value of idled waste streams (waste wood, chicken litter, etc.)

2. To reduce pollution -
both the greenhouse gases that emit from landfills and from burning dirtier
elements like coal (currently we are literally burying one source of energy and
digging up another.)

There are a lot of other
positive reasons to push for the growth of the biomass industry as well as the
renewable energy sector as a whole such as job growth, finding a cheaper source
of energy that what we currently use, etc. But at the end of the day, it all
boils down to those two reasons.

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